1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the manufacture of thin film electronic circuits on substrates and, more particularly, to a process of replacing missing thin film metallurgy, such as missing input/output (I/O) pads, in an efficient and inexpensive manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Missing input/output (I/O) pads on substrates, even if only one, can result in the substrate being scrapped. In the manufacture of certain electronic circuits, I/O pads are formed using thin film metallurgy by, for example, evaporating chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) and gold (Au) I/O pads directly on a substrate through a metal mask. The thicknesses of the components in the thin film metallurgy is typically in the micron range. Substrates manufactured using this process may exhibit one or more missing I/O pads. Some of these missing I/O pads are electrically acceptable because of redundancy, others are not. If the I/O were critical, the part would have to be scraped for electrical reasons. Since I/O pads are often deposited well into the thin film process, the loss of the part can have a serious impact on manufacturing schedules and costs.